The British are ignorant about religion, according to a senior Roman Catholic
figure, who claimed the Pope's visit will serve both to educate the nation
and provide a "whopping profit" to host cities.

Jack Valero claimed most people knew more about Paul Newman, the Hollywood actor, than Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Victorian theologian who will be beatified by Benedict XVI next week.

He spoke as it emerged that the Church has only raised £6.2m of its estimated £10m costs for the religious side of the historic state papal visit, while thousands of tickets for the open-air events remain unsold. Taxpayers also face a bill of at least £12m for the state parts such as a reception given by the Queen and heavy security for the most complex ever visit by a foreign head of state.

But Mr Valero, the spokesman for Opus Dei in Britain as well as a key figure in the Cause to canonise Cardinal Newman, insisted that the four-day event was a “great coup” for the British government that would bring “huge prestige and kudos”.

He also predicted that the cities the Pope will visit – London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow – would make such a “whopping profit” from the Pope’s presence and the large crowds he will attract that the controversy over the cost of the trip will evaporate.

“When he touches down, people will start to listen and see that he is more approachable than they thought, and then I think the excitement will build,” Mr Valero said.

He said he hoped the Pontiff would use the legacy of Cardinal Newman, an Anglican who converted to Rome, to “evangelise” Britain and ease tensions between the two leading Christian denominations over female clergy.

“A year ago, when the Pope’s visit was announced, most people in the streets didn’t know who Newman was,” said Mr Valero, a spokesman on the beatification process.

“They’d heard of Paul Newman, but apart from that they didn’t know very much.”

In a briefing to the Vatican press corps in Rome, Mr Valero acknowledged that Britain was now a deeply secular country, with a recent poll showing that the majority of residents were “indifferent” to the first ever state visit by a pontiff.

“Nobody knows anything about religion in the UK,” he said.

But he went on: “Newman could be used as a vehicle for unity between the Church of England and Roman Catholics. He lived for 89 years – 44 as an Anglican and 45 as a Catholic.

“He is very popular with everyone – Anglicans, Catholics, even gays like him because they say he was homosexual.”

There has been intense speculation about Newman’s sexuality. On his death in 1890, he was buried in a tomb alongside his lifelong friend, Father Ambrose St John, on the outskirts of Birmingham. The two men had previously lived together.

There is no evidence that Newman ever broken his vow of celibacy by having physical relationships with St John or any of his other close male followers, Mr Valero said.

“There is no question that he maintained his vow of celibacy throughout his life. But was he a man of homosexual orientation? We don’t know what went on in his mind and heart but the fact that he had close friendships with men does not imply that he was homosexually inclined.”

The Vatican’s offer last year to embrace into the Catholic fold discontented Anglican traditionalists strained relationships with Canterbury, but Mr Valero said: “I don’t think it’s going to be an issue in this trip. It’s not as if the Pope is coming over to claim his people and park his tanks in the gardens of Lambeth Palace.”

Benedict XVI arrives on Thursday morning in Scotland and will be received by the Queen, alongside senior politicians, at Holyroodhouse Palace.

But just 75,000 passes have been given to Catholics for an open-air Mass in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow – far fewer than the 300,000 who saw the previous Pope, John Paul II, appear there in 1982.

A prayer vigil in Hyde Park, London, on Saturday is believed to be close to capacity but the highlight of the visit, the beatification of Cardinal Newman in Cofton Park, Birmingham, may be seen by as few as 50,000 pilgrims – half the number originally planned.

Many churchgoers who had already contributed to a collection for the visit are thought to have baulked at the prospect of paying up to £25 for a ticket to one of the outdoor events, particularly the beatification Mass which can only be reached by coaches leaving parishes before dawn next Sunday followed by “very long” walks to the arena.

Tens of thousands are expected to line the streets instead, to catch a glimpse of Benedict XVI in his Popemobile.